


Whatever Was Going On With Jeremy

by SelkieMarie



Series: Be More Chill Fics [1]
Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst, Blood, Jeremy gets jumped, Jeremy is more than just a bit sick, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, boyf riends — Freeform, glowstick juice, michael doesn't know what to do, this will seriously be a lot of angst, violent themes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-25 22:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12045825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SelkieMarie/pseuds/SelkieMarie
Summary: Jeremy hadn't shown up to school that day, and Michael decides to check on him after classes end.What seems like a normal bug turns out to be a lot worse.





	1. Glow Stick Juice

It had started on a wednesday. Jeremy missed school that day, which, in itself wasn’t too strange, but what was strange was the fact he hadn’t texted Michael about it. While he was worried, Michael mostly brushed it off, planning to visit him later that day after classes to check on him. As Jeremy’s father had finally gotten a job, he was barely home anymore, often staying overtime, and most often overnight, leaving Jeremy alone most of the time. Michael would usually walk home with him, or even get dinner with him, just so he didn’t have to always be alone. 

The day moved by slowly, Michael’s worry growing as the seconds ticked by. Scenarios flashed through his mind as to what was keeping Jeremy home, mainly the fact that his friend was alone in that house scared him the most. Perhaps he should have stayed over the night before, but Jeremy seemed fine when they parted ways that afternoon. 

The final bell couldn’t have come soon enough, and Michael rushed out the door to his car. At this point he sped over to Jeremy’s home, ran up the driveway and over to the front door, knocking.

First there was silence, then a mild shuffling, and the door soon creaked open to reveal Jeremy, in a blanket. He was extremely pale, eyes wide, and the alarms in Michael’s head immediately went off, as he rushed into the house, “Dude, you looked fine yesterday.. What happened?”

“I-i must’ve caught a bug or something.” He shrugged, “A pretty bad one at that..” His voice sounded raspy, as if he hadn’t used it much at all that day, and on top of that he mumbled, his lips barely parting.

“You look like shit, you should have called! I would have been over.” Michael huffed.

“I slept until.. Like 12. You would have gotten it in the middle of class..” Jeremy continued to mumble.

“I would have stormed right out of that classroom if I knew how sick you were.” Michael started to walk over to the kitchen, “Have you eaten anything?”

“I’ve tried.” Jeremy shrugged.

“Whaddya mean, ‘You tried?’”

“I just got sick after trying.” Jeremy rubbed his eyes.

“Well you’re trying again. I’m not letting you starve dude.” Michael opened up the fridge door and scanned through, finding an opened can of soup.

“I’m really not hungry..” Jeremy trudged over to the kitchen, “I’d rather just sleep some more..”

Michael looked over at Jeremy, “Will you eat later?” He asked worriedly, to which Jeremy nodded. He walked over to Jeremy, wrapping an arm around him and leading him to the living room, setting him down on the couch. Michael grabbed the remote, turning on the tele. It was already on some movie, he wasn’t sure what, but it looked old. Michael turned back to Jeremy, who had already passed out, with a slow rise and fall indicating that he was in fact still breathing. 

Michael sat next to Jeremy, feeling his forehead. It was cold, uncharacteristically, unhealthily cold. He looked on in worry, before looking for another blanket. He found one in a cabinet, draping it over Jeremy. He turned the light off, letting the room bathe in the soft glow of the tele as the movie continued to play.

As the movie played for the next hour, Michael fiddled with the blanket around Jeremy, making very well sure that he was completely wrapped, yet his forehead still felt cold, and his skin was still a sickly pale shade.

“Hey, Jere.” Michael shook Jeremy’s shoulder, trying to wake him up. “Jeree~” He cooed. However, when Jeremy did open his eyes, Michael lept back in shock.

“Michael?” Jeremy blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, “You look freaked, you good?”

“Did you ingest like.. Glow stick juice or neon.. Or some shit like that?”

“Isn’t that stuff poisonous? No. I didn’t, Michael, what’s going on?” Jeremy stared at Michael worriedly.

“You eyes Jere, they’re fucking glowing..” Michael leaned in a bit closer, examining Jeremy’s eyes. They had changed from their normal blue to a sort of wine red, a glowing wine red. He had to check for a moment that the glow wasn’t coming from the tele. How had he not noticed?

“What?!” Jeremy squirmed from the blanket cocoon Michael had made.

“Dude, I think we should get you to an ER or something.. This is freaking me out. Let me get you the soup. You’ll need it.”

Jeremy shifted uncomfortably on the couch, “Do you think I’m going to be okay?” He said softly.

Michael paused before rushing over to Jeremy, draping his arms around him. “You’re not rotting away or anything dude. You’ll be fine. I promise.”

Jeremy gripped Michael’s arm for comfort, “I’m holding you up to that promise.” He smiled, a weary smile. After a few seconds, Michael slipped his arm away and walked over to the kitchen. He stopped at the counter for a moment, letting out a worried sigh as anxiety slowly set in. Whatever was going on with Jeremy seemed to be more than just a bug. He was pretty sure changing eye colour wasn’t normal when it came to sickness. He wasn’t exactly ready to drive Jeremy to a hospital however, as he didn’t seem to be anything but tired.

Michael took the soup from the fridge and heated it up in the microwave, afterwards taking a spoon and heading over to Jeremy, sitting next to him and handing him the soup. Jeremy took the bowl and began to eat slowly, clearly still tired. He finished, setting the tupperware down and curling back up into the blanket, thanking Michael. For awhile, they sat there watching the tele, as Jeremy began to nod off again.

Suddenly, Jeremy sat up, scaring Michael, and ran off to the bathroom, tripping over the blanket, and locking the door. Michael rushed over to the door, waiting in panic as he heard Jeremy retching. Michael made his mind that as soon as they got out, they were going to head straight over to the hospital. 

Soon enough the sickening sound ceased, replaced by very heavy breathing. “Jere?” Michael knocked, “Jere, are you okay? Open the door.” 

The heavy breathing from the other side was soon replaced by sobbing. Sobbing and heavy breathing. He didn’t sound okay whatsoever. Michael ran over to the kitchen, grabbing a butter knife, and running back to the door, fidgeting as he forced the door open, unlocking it with the knife. Michael paused in the doorway, looking down in horror at what he saw.

The sink and counter weren’t covered in puke or the soup that Jeremy had had, but red. Dark red scarlet blood, and a lot of it. Jeremy was pressed up against the wall, sobbing as blood ran down his mouth. Michael snapped out of his trance, Running over to Jeremy’s side, holding his shoulders. “Hey, hey Jere, what happened? Oh god, we should just drive to the hospital, come on..”

Jeremy sobbed more, “I knew I shouldn’t have tried to eat again today.. Is this blood? Michael, how much blood-?”

“A lot of it..” Michael sighed, “Can you get up to get to the car?” He gripped Jeremy’s shoulders, “I will carry you if I have to..”

“I don’t want to go..” He choked on his tears, “I’ll just.. I’ll just be worrying everyone and I won’t be able to see you for a long time and.. Oh god Dad’ll be so worried..”

“You are vomiting blood, Jere, think of yourself!” He grabbed Jeremy by the cheeks, turning his head towards him, eye to eye. “You’re gonna be okay, but you need some medical attention!” Worry shone through Michael’s eyes, and Jeremy sighed.

“I-I guess.. I just hate hospitals..” He mumbled, “I know this is seriou-”

“Jeremy, wait..” Michael interrupted him, causing Jeremy to give him a confused look, “Open your mouth. Wide.”

Jeremy complied, a bit fearful of what Michael saw. 

“Oh.. oh my god Jere, holy..” He paused, blinking, “I.. Jere, I think you have like..” he paused again

“Have what? Michael, you’re freaking me out..” Jeremy looked up in concern.

“..Fangs, Jere. Like, sharp ass fangs..” Michael blinked again, “I.. this might be more than being sick.. God I don’t know..”

“Wha- fangs?!” Jeremy backed away from Michael for a moment to feel his teeth, and after a second his eyes went wide. “Michael, what’s happening?” He stared straight at him, tears in his eyes again, “This is really scaring me, Michael, what’s going on with me?” He choked.

“I don’t.. I don’t know.. I mean..” Michael took a deep breath, “There are some things I could guess but it’d sound insane and…” He held his head, tugging at his hair, “I just.. I just want you to be okay but.. But you’re obviously not and it hurts to see you hurt, and I just want to help but..” He sighed, tears welling in his eyes as well.

“How is a hospital supposed to help fix glowing eyes and fangs of all things?!” Jeremy sighed, before slowly getting up. Michael saw this and got up as well to try and support him. “We should go.. Just in case.”

Michael nodded, guiding Jeremy out of the bathroom. He looked over to the clock, 5pm. Only two hours had passed since he arrived, and everything had already gone to shit. He opened the door, holding Jeremy’s hand to guide him out into the daylight. As soon as they got out, however, Michael heard a pained yelp behind him as Jeremy’s hand slipped from his grip. “Jere?!” He spun around, eyes searching for his friend. They soon landed on a shoulder peeking from the doorframe, and Michael immediately looked in and saw Jeremy seemingly hiding from the open door, “Jere, what the hell happened?” He crouched down.

Jeremy slowly lifted up his hand, the one Michael had been holding. It looked badly sunburnt, as Jeremy hissed in pain. 

“Holy shit.. I..” Michael closed the door, “I don’t understand..”

“I think it’s sickeningly obvious what the fuck is happening!” Jeremy snapped at Michael, but recoiled as soon as he saw the look of concern on Michael’s face.  
“When you left last night.. I decided to go out to one of the fast food places around for dinner. It was like.. 11pm and when I got my food and was walking back..” He sighed, “I was grabbed..” Jeremy paused, choking a bit on his words.

Michael wrapped an arm around Jeremy, “I’m sorry I-”

“It’s not your fault.. I just.. I’ve gotten takeout for dinner tons of times and this has never happened but.. Those guys, they dragged me to the back of a building, and all I can remember is this searing pain.” Jeremy sighed again, “And then I woke up at home. With a fast food bag at the foot of my fucking bed.”

“You tried to eat it?” 

“Yeah, and I hurled but.. No blood that time.” Jeremy looked down. 

“So.. you’re like.. Some kind of..” Michael paused, worried he’d sound idiotic. “..A Vampire?”

Jeremy shrugged, “It sure of hell looks like that right now, huh?” 

“I thought they didn’t exist?” Michael stared, wide eyed at Jeremy.

“And I might be living proof that they in fact do.” He held his burnt hand, still in a bit of pain.

“Aren’t Vampires undead or something?” 

“I don’t know! Aren’t you like, completely shocked by this?” Jeremy looked into Michael’s eyes, Michael in turn flinching back a bit at the pure intensity of colour. 

“It’s.. taking awhile to set in, I mean.. a vampire?” Michael tugged at his hair, “Wait.. that means you might.. Drink-”

“Blood. Yeah. I guess that’s something vampires do. But I’m sure they don’t go hurling it back up.”

“I think that was your own blood..”

Both boys sat in silence for awhile, letting the reality of the situation roll in.

Jeremy soon piped up.

“...Did I die?”


	2. Two Puncture-Like Wounds

The next hour was one of pain for both Jeremy and Michael, in their own ways, to different extremes. A few minutes after Jeremy’s comment, and some stunned silence from Michael, Jeremy rushed back into the bathroom. The amount of blood he coughed up was nothing less than unnatural. Deadly, even. He sobbed and tried to breathe as Michael stayed by his side, gripping his hand.

But Jeremy never lost consciousness throughout this ordeal. It was a vicious cycle of coughing, heavy breathing, and constant sobbing. He squeezed Michael’s hand extremely tightly throughout, to the point where his nails dug into his skin. However, Michael tried his best to endure it as best he could. His friend was in extreme pain after all, and while he could bandage his hand, he had no idea how to even begin to fix what Jeremy was going through.

The long hour of torture for both boys ended soon, however, and both of them slumped to the floor, Jeremy’s grip on Michael’s hand finally loosening. Worried, Michael got up and held the other’s shoulders once again. “Jere? Jere jesus christ, do you need something? Don- don’t fall asleep right now okay-”

“I must be dead..” Jeremy sobbed, not bothering to look at Michael, “That was.. You know that was more than enough blood to be lost to kill someone. It doesn’t take a doctor..”

Michael sat down next to the other, who was facing the sink, sulking. “I know.. I know but.. You’re still here, aren’t you?”

“What if I’m not in like, an hour?” Jeremy looked to Michael, “What if this isn’t some vampirism thing but some deadly disease that makes it seem like that, I mean, people can be allergic to the sun! Some kind of injury, those guys probably kicked me in the stomach beyond repair or something..”

“You didn’t feel bruising before?”

“Everything hurt before. It still hurts now.”

Michael gulped, “Jere, take off your shirt-”

“What?!” Jeremy looked at the other in shock.

“To see if there is any bruising.”

Jeremy sighed, nodding, slowly pulling off his shirt, stained with blood, and throwing it to the floor, his arms falling to his sides in fatigue. His whole figure seemed a lot thinner, and the alarmingly pale sickly colour of his skin didn’t only show on his face, but everywhere else. His stomach didn’t have any alarming bruises, but he was covered in little ones, and scratches. Jeremy might not have remembered the confrontation the night before, but Michael figured there was some sort of struggle. What really surprised Michael, however, was a wound on Jeremy’s shoulder. Two puncture-like wounds, close to his neck, but previously hidden by the shirt. They looked like a sort of bite mark; as separate teeth marks that looked like slight indentations shown around the area seemed to indicate. There seemed to be only two teeth that actually punctured the skin, the canines. The skin around the bite looked red and raw, and both boys noticed the wound almost immediately.

Jeremy stared at it, the colour draining from his face, if that was even possible in his state. “Well, I don’t think there’s another explanation.” He curled up, hugging his knees.

Michael sighed, “I’m so, so sorry, Jere, I should have been there-”

“If you were there, then you probably would have been jumped too. And then we would both be in the same situation. Or dead. Or separated. I’m just.. Glad you’re here now.” He sniffed.

Michael stayed silent for a moment, before standing up, pulling at Jeremy’s arm, “Come on, you should get rest, or.. Something, just.. Come on.” He was extremely unsure of what to do. If anything, he just wanted to keep a close eye on his friend. Vampires seemed like the most outlandish thing, something he couldn’t even grasp. He was prepared for a cold, prepared for a fever, the flu, anything of the sort. The normal ‘stay home and skip school’ sicknesses. The last thing he was prepared for was some transformation and the realization that a supernatural entity actually existed. Nothing about this situation seemed to indicate any sort of hope, or light at the end of the very dark tunnel both were facing. The only thing Michael knew for sure; Jeremy shouldn’t have to be alone through this. And after they were both up, Michael led them to the living room, giving Jeremy a few blankets, which he gladly took and wrapped around himself. 

Michael, however, decided to take it upon himself to clean up the bloody mess that was the bathroom. When blood dries, it’s extremely hard to clean, and he would rather not have Jeremy’s dad coming back to find the bathroom looking like a murder scene. Gathering the cleaning supplies from under the sink, Michael began to scrub and rinse the worst of the stains. The sink, over the sides, there was blood splatter everywhere. Even the mirror wasn’t safe, and he thanked whatever entity was out there that most of the blood hadn’t dried or fully dried yet. He threw the shirt Jeremy was wearing, a plain white t-shirt of all things, into the bin. There was no saving it from all the blood. All that blood, Jeremy’s blood, no less. It felt so wrong, like he was washing away apart of his best friend that he’d never get back, apart of Jeremy that made him himself. Every few minutes Michael would call from the bathroom to see if Jeremy was alright, and even though the responses were laced with fatigue and pain, all he needed at that point was to know the guy he had spent twelve years of friendship with was there, still with him.

He eventually finished, putting away the supplies and heading over to flop on the couch. 

“How are you feeling?” He turned to Jeremy.

“It hurts.” He groaned.

“What does?” Michael scooted closer, “So I can help.”

“My throat burns, my eyes are sore, my shoulders and body in general ache, even my teeth hurt, and I just spent an hour puking all the blood in my body into the sink.” 

He was obviously a bit irritable.

Michael sighed, draping his arms around Jeremy to give him a hug. “I’m sure it’ll pass. Soon enough.”

Jeremy fidgeted a bit. “Why are you acting so.. So calm about this?” He sniffed, “I might be dying, or dead.. Undead, whatever! I might be some creature that drinks blood of all things, and you’re still here!” 

“Because you need something that’s not going wrong. I’m not leaving you alone just because you might be some creature or whatever, you’re still you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know the difference between a friend I’ve had for god knows how long and something trying to kill me. Give me some credit.”

“What if I am a vampire or.. Some shit like that?”

“Then I’ll be here.” Michael smiled, “Don’t get me wrong, it freaks me out a bit but..” He shrugged, “You shouldn’t be alone.”

“What if I attack you?” Jeremy gulped.

“You won’t. It won’t get to that.” He said bluntly.

“How are you so sure?!” Jeremy whipped his head around to face Michael, “I could hurt you, I have no idea what’s going to happen, but I bet nine times out of ten it ends up with you hurt, especially if I am some vampire now.”

“What if this is that one time where you don’t?”

“Michael-”

“Jere, look, I might get hurt. It’s life, Jere, it’s just life. It’s weird, and scary to even think that vampires exist, and even scarier to think your friend is one but.. It’s even scarier to see you in this kind of pain. I might get hurt, yeah, but Jere..” He paused, “You’re already hurt. And what if it hurts me to see you hurt, hmm?”

“Mich-”

“I’m not leaving Jere. I already feel guilty enough.” He pulled Jeremy even closer into the hug. “And I know if this shit was happening to me, you’d be freaked, yeah, but you’d stay. I know you would.”

“How do you know though?”

“I can’t ever be sure but...” Michael shrugged, “I trust you dude. More than anyone.”

Jeremy was sobbing again. Soft tears streaming down his cheeks. Michael could only guess how scared he was. Michael was terrified, and he hadn’t even been the one throwing up blood. The story, the eyes, the teeth, the mark, everything seemed to be pointing to the impossible, but it was the best they had. He tried his best comforting Jeremy at that moment, but he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. Did this mean Jeremy was going to have to drink blood, or possibly starve? He figured Jeremy would choose the latter if faced with the decision. Michael was ready to make him choose the former. Again, it was a scary prospect, in fact, downright terrifying. Everything and anything could go wrong, but there was no way in hell he wouldn’t find a way to make it work. 

He wasn’t supposed to be frightened. He wasn’t the one going through this hell. He needed to be there. He needed to support his friend. He needed to be strong.

Though he honestly felt like crying as well.

After a while, Jeremy stopped the crying, lifting himself up a bit.

“Thanks.. Thank you.. I.. god I don’t know..” He stuttered a bit.

“You want anything dude?” Michael pulled away from the hug.

Jeremy’s eyes shifted a bit, before resting to look at Michael. His glowing, red eyes. Michael couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably under the gaze, even if it was one of complete innocence, no malice. He missed the calm blue that was beforehand, Jeremy’s natural eye colour. He was used to it. He watched as the other went through a bit of a thinking process. 

“I guess…” Jeremy played with his hands some, “I want to distract myself with something? We should play something.”

“What do you want to play?”

“You choose.”  
Michael shifted a bit more, “Help me narrow it down a bit!” He smiled, “What system?”

“Something simple, but distracting.. I guess. How about the Wii?”

“Sure.” He shrugged, “How about guitar hero then? It’s been forever.”

“It has.. I mean, we probably only played for a week!” Jeremy snickered.

“All that expensive plastic for naught. Until now!” Michael gave off a sort of fake-announcer voice, causing the other to laugh some more.

“Let’s go then!” Jeremy got off the couch and tugged Michael’s arm. He seemed genuinely excited. The two walked over to Jeremy’s room, and after making sure the other was comfortable as one could be on a bean bag chair, Michael searched through the closet for the old discarded plastic guitar props. He pulled them out, and handed one to Jeremy. They both fitted the Wii controllers into their respective guitars, and started the game. 

The Middle, Hotel California, Antisocial, Misery Business, and La Bamba were just a few of the songs that the two played in their binge session, and other than some stray coughing and overall achiness, Jeremy seemed to be doing fine. Michael was relieved. The game was just as they expected, mindless fun. Fun that kicked their heads out of at least some of the overbearing thoughts of death and doom, at least for awhile. 

Eventually, Jeremy put his guitar prop down and opted to simply watch Michael, his fatigue getting the better of him. He rested his head on the back of the bed as he watched on happily, and blissfully. Soon enough, he nodded off, his chest slowly rising and falling.

Michael noticed this after about half an hour, and in turn switched off the tele, and picked up Jeremy, which was surprisingly and alarmingly easy, setting him down on the bed with the blanket. 

Not wanting to disturb his friend while in such a spot, Michael opted to sleep on the couch for the night, grabbing a pillow and blanket, and settling in.

He was left with nothing but the droning and creaking of the house, as well as his thoughts and anxieties left from the day. Before he knew it, his mind had drifted off into possibilities and worries that he knew for certain would keep him awake, thoughts that he wouldn’t be able to get rid of or avoid.

Michael was already prepared though. Prepared for a night that didn’t promise much of any kind of sleep. 

He was, however, prepared to ride it out for however long it lasted.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @itisifrance for always proof-reading my work!


End file.
